What is buzzing or flying near you today??

Dave, this is a good link, check out the hoverfly on the top row, second to the right, I think it is yours.

http://www.uknature.co.uk/hoverflies.html

 

Great photos Woo and Dave, no Butterflies here Woo except cabbage whites and we have plenty of those, we have lots of hoverflies when it's not raining also lots of those little black beetles ( thanks for the id Walnut they are known as pollen beetles here, we used to have to wear yellow teeshirts for work at one time and used to end up covered in them)

Alfie

 

Here's some photos I got the other day between showers including some of the little black bugs.










Alfie

 

Great shots Alfie quite a selection of hovers.
Here is a mid air shot of a phaonia viarum identical markings to a flesh fly but only half the size.

 

Ace and Walnut - fantastic photos! :thumb:

I think that there are more Hoverflies around this year than last year. At least over here - how is it over in England?

Walnut - I must make a note of this " phaonia viarum identical markings to a flesh fly but only half the size." I've seen them in our garden too and did wonder if they were half-grown Flesh flies :D or another kind.


I found this garden spider on the outside of our "office" this afternoon. It had just caught a bee and was busy wrapping it up for a future meal. Taken from inside with the window open.



Sorry it is not clear but I find it very difficult to get good spider pictures. They often come out white - does anyone know why? Also, how to avoid it.

This is the same spider and victim, taken from outside and Mr K holding a sheet of white paper behind it.

 

Well caught Walnut, I think we have some of those hanging round the dustbin. I managed to get my first hover in flight the other day using the ultra high speed function. They are posted earlier in this thread.
Excellent spider pics Kedi glad I'm not the Bee

Alfie

 

Gorgeous pics as usual, Sis. :thumb:

Mine in comparison is an embarrassment .... but I took it just for you and wasn't quite awake .....



It was about 5cms across and not my furry friend I photographed previously, however, it obviously lives in the bathroom with the other one .... :eek: .... and that's not my hair in the sink as mine is sort of longer and blonder ..... :D

 

Oh, thank you Sis, I love it! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx I'll copy it into my album.

 

Brilliant shots as usual Kedi.:thumb:

 

Stonkingly great pics Kedi! Brilliant detail. I love those little yellow sandals the flesh fly is wearing!!

 

Surprised at you Dave noticing footwear thats a womans thing:D:D
On the subject of flies feet scientists have been trying to uncover the secrets of insect sticking power for centuries. On rough surfaces insects can latch onto small projections with claws. But there's no such anchorage on smooth surfaces like a window pane for instance. Insects that have to tackle slippery slopes have specialised pads at the end of the tarsus, the last of the leg segments. Some have hairy pads, some have pads that are completely smooth, but what makes them stick? Engineers and materials scientists would dearly love to know.Friction certainly plays a part in limiting the horizontal movement of the pads. But when the animal is running up a slope, climbing vertically or travelling upside down, it needs a more powerful adhesive. Just what that adhesive is has been hotly debated for years. Some people suggested that insects had microsuckers. Some reckoned they relied on electrostatic forces. Others thought that intermolecular forces between pad and leaf might provide a firm foothold.
Most of the evidence, though, suggested that insects rely on "wet adhesion", hanging on with the help of a thin film of fluid on the bottom of the pad. Insects often leave tiny trails of oily footprints. Some clearly secrete a fluid onto the "soles" of their feet. And they tend to lose their footing when they have their feet cleaned or dried. This year, Walter Federle, an entomologist at the University of WÃ?rzburg, showed experimentally that an insect's sticking power depends on a thin film of liquid under its feet.
Just thought you may find this interesting it's the sort of thing a kid could ask you and now you don't need to scratch your head.

 

Learn some stuff in these boxes Walnut.
Thanks for edification
Robert

 

Thanks walnut and Dave, also for the interesting info, walnut.

The large and small flesh flies have a different pattern on their backs, I noticed it while I was taking the last lot of photos of them. Until then I thought that they were the same.

Yellow sandles :D - I think they look like little hoofs :D

Dave, did you see the link I put up on the previous page, about hoverflies? I think your beautiful orange one is there - top row, second from the right. Here is the link again to save going back. http://www.uknature.co.uk/hoverflies.html

Marley - your Budlea is a wonderful colour (jealous!) and then those butterflies :thumb: You should have said earlier that you had no butterflies!

Here are a couple more of my pics -